Well, What Now?

by Spirit Shift

The Sixth Day

The Sixth Day

~~~~~~~~~~~~

“You’re late!” Twilight all but yelled.

“It wasn't our fault!” rebutted Dash

“Then why were you late?”

“Pinkie made breakfast.”

“It was very good, if I do say so myself. And I do!”

“And then we passed out. Spike wasn't there to help us eat, and it was the last day of the sleepover.”

Pinkie began to excitedly hop in place. “I finally mastered the secret Pink art of ChimiCherryChangas. Do you want one?” she asked holding out a steaming hot changa.”

Twilight facehoofed, not a normal facehoof, mind you, this was a princess facehoof. “No, Pinkie, we have to hurry. Rainbow, do you even want your body back, you could've eaten after we got back.” she pleaded.

Pinkie gave a large gasp at this suggestion. “Twilight, one you don’t just ‘skip’ breakfast. It’s like the most important meal of the day! Duh!”

“Come on, you two, the train’s here. Lets go before I’m tempted to go back to Canterlot to grab some. In fact, let me have that chimichanga.” said Twilight as she, and the other two, boarded the train. “You know,” she said in between bites, “I’m pretty excited, nomI get to see what the full extent of this spell does.”

“Wait, you didn't know what all of the side effects were?”

“Well, [i[gulpno. I had a few hypotheses. Like you guys would slowly adopt each others personalities. This is really good.”

Pinkie beamed at the compliment.

“But, from what I’ve seen you aren't acting like Spike, but you are more boyish than you were before. nom nom nom”

“What?”

“Really? How can you tell, she still acts the same to me?” asked Pinkie, staring closely at the subject at hoof.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Oh, there are plenty of signs, from how she talks to how she acts. It’s all more boyish than usual.”

Pinkie stared ever closer, scrutinizing every inch of Rainbow. “I still can’t tell. Hey, Twilight, did you find out what they did with Discord’s spot?” Pinkie said cheerfully.

“Yea, they moved all of the statues and put in a banana grove,” she said, clearly annoyed with the decision. “Something about Celestia liking them, or them being cool or whatever.”

“Ohh” she oohh’ed, “I like bananas! Bananas are good, especially on chocolate frosting caramel sundaes. Or banana cream pie! That’s always good.”

“Ehh,” she ehh’ed, “I’m more of an orange sherbet kind of pony, or maybe strawberry.”

“Strawberry’s my favorite!”

“What’s your favorite, Rainbow?”

“Chocolate,” he said, completely disinterested.

While the two eccentric ponies continued to blather on about random topics, the bored Dragon decided to retreat to a separate car to catch some extra Zs. He did manage to fall asleep the night before, but from the morning on all he could worry about was whether or not he would still be able to fly when this was all over.

~ later ~

"Ok, girls," Pinkie began, "we need to fan out and cover every inch until we find Spike. Rainbow, you check inside the Statue of Lipony."

"Pinkie-"

"Twilight, you check the The Golden Gaite Bridge.”

“Pinkie Pie-”

“I’ll check the Leaning Tower of Pizza, I need to see what kind of cheese they use so that I can make my own someday.”

“Pinkie Pie!” Twilight called out.

“Yes, Twilight?”

“I’ll explain to you everything wrong with that plan later, but first of all, Rarity is right there!”

Pinkie turned in the direction of Twilight’s pointing hoof to see the white mare in question, happily trotting up to them alongside a purple pegasus.

“Rarity,” Twilight called as she ran to meet them halfway, “have you seen Spike, we need to turn him back to normal as soon as possible.”

“Twilight, that is Spike.” she answered, gesturing to the pony next to her.

Twilight looked the pony up and down, examining her closely.”

“Ehh, no. I know that I turned him into a mare as a joke, but that can’t be her.”

“Why can’t I be me?” he said.

“Because, there’s no way that Spike, as a mare, would be cuter than me. Not to sound arrogant or anything.”

Spike deadpanned, and without changing her expression, began to speak. “When you were 8, you accidentally walked into Celestia’s secret closet, and without knowing what it was, you played with her-” Spike couldn't finish because Twilight had magically removed her mouth in a particularly Trixie-esque move.

“IGETITYOURSPIKEJUSTSTOPTALKING!” she blurted, desperately trying to ignore the round of muffled snickers and giggle from several of the ponies around her, and full out laughter from Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash. As well as her now beet red face and fully erect wings.

“Wow, Twilight,” said Rainbow, currently rolling on the ground, bathing in his own laughter.

“I didn't know what they were! I swear! I was 6, and they were weird and stretchy! I thought they were toys, alright!” she panicked.

Her sentence only served to cause everypony that had, previously, been at least trying to hold in their laughter, join Rainbow Dash in his fit that had only increased in ferocity. Even Rarity herself had fallen to her knees, occasionally letting loose the undignified snort of laughter.

“Ugh,” she grunted, “just get over here so that I can fix you!” Angrily grabbing both Rainbow Dash and Spike, she slammed them together first to shut them up, then quickly cast the reversing spell to cure them. The resulting light show quickly did it’s secondary job of clearing away the excess amount of laughing ponies surrounding them. It lasted for a few more second before the light faded, and two figures fell limply to the ground.

Rarity walked over and stood next to Twilight, both looking down at the two still smoking figures. They more or less looked the same, the only difference was that their colors and mane styles had returned to normal. “Are they alright? Did it work?”

“Yes, I think so, but we won’t know for sure until they wake up, It should only take a few seconds.”

“In that case, I’ve been wondering; when we turned in to breezies, you also shot the spell at them, but you didn't do that here, why is that.”

Twilight turned away from the two subjects that she had been inspecting to answer Rarity’s question. “Oh, well what that was was me, analyzing what it was like to be a breezie, from the breezies themselves.”

“What it’s like?”

“You know, how it feels to be who you are, how it feels to fly, to walk, to live, and to eat, but as a breezie. Most ponies can’t really express it through words, but they all have an underlying sense of self. That’s why it’s bad to have the spell on for too long. In order to turn Spike and Rainbow back, I had to have them remember what it was like to be them, but the longer that they remained in those forms, the more about themselves they forgot.
Hopefully, Rainbow Dash remembers enough about what it’s like to fly or she’ll lose all of her flight skill, or possibly the power to fly entirely.”

Instantly, Rainbow Dash’s eye popped open, and in a flash, she was high in the air, whooping, cheering and hollering all the way. She completed dozens of flips, loops, and acrobatic tricks though the air as she celebrated the return of awesome.

“Well, I guess we don’t have to worry about that,” commented Rarity. Her eyes left Dash as they found themselves observing Spike as he groaned and pushed himself off the ground.

“Woah, that never gets any less weird,” he said as he wobbly stood on two legs, he looked around and reacquainted himself with height difference that he had known for so long. “The one thing that I’ll miss, is being tall……. and my tail, I liked the tail.”

“I will miss styling that mane of yours,” commented Rarity as she made her way over to him, “but now that all is said and done, I think that you have a question to ask.”

Spike nodded and hesitantly walked over to Twilight. He looked her in the eye and began nervously. “Umm, Twilight?”

“Yes, Spike?” she said, noticing that the young dragon looked troubled.

“C-can I ask you a question?”

“Of course,” she said gently, “you can ask me anything, you know that.”

“A-am I free?”

Twilight had prepared for many types of questions, ranging from helpful advice, to birds and bees type discussions. She, literally, had hundreds of speeches memorized for numerous occasions, but this one question actually managed to throw her for a loop.

“What are you talking about? Of course you’re free, why would you think that you aren't.”

“Because, over the past few days I’ve done some thinking. I realized that I don’t have any real hobbies, interests, goals, or anything.”

“Yes you do, you like….. organizing, cooking, and reading, and you like hanging around with your friends, and Rarity.”

“No, those are all things that you like to do, I’m just around you while you do them. I don’t have any hobbies that I do by myself besides helping other ponies, and even then I sometimes screw that up. I don’t even really have any friends that I know who aren't tied to you or the others,” he admitted sadly.

Twilight began to get nervous, she didn't like where this was headed. “You could make friends with some of the other ponies in Ponyville that I don’t know.”

“I would, but even if we don’t know them, everypony knows that I’m the assistant to the princess, they would feel pressured to either be nice to me, or use me to get to you. Like with the crusaders, remember?”

Twilight did in fact remember the time where the crusaders used their connection with her to become popular. She begrudgingly had to agree with his point. “So, what, do you want to get a job somewhere in Ponyville? See what kinds of things you like to do?”

“No, I want to travel across Equestria. Rarity told me about something called ‘a journey of self discovery. I want to go on one of those!” he said resolutely.

“What? Are you crazy, you’re only a baby dragon, and it’s dangerous out there. If you want to make friends, or find a hobby , you can do that here in Ponyville! Also didn't you already try to find out what it means to be a dragon?”

“This isn't like when I wanted to learn what it means to be a dragon and It's not just about friends or hobbies!” he yelled “I've realized that I want to do most, is learn more about the world around me, I want to see what’s out there Twilight, and I can’t do that in a confined space like Ponyville. Every week, you all go off on some adventure, you see so many great places, and most of the time you guys leave me behind. This world just feels so small to me right now.”

Twilight just stood back, stunned at the determination emanating from him, this really wasn't like the dragon migration.

“That’s not true,” she shot back, “you’ve been to Manehatten, Canterlot, and the Crystal Empire!”

“But you all went to more exciting places, like Fillydelphia, and Cloudsdale. Twilight, you’ve even been to Tartarus and the Land of Breezies. While I’ve been stuck here, counting books,” he countered. “Plus, the one time I tried to go out on my own, you guys followed me the entire way.”

“I’m not saying that I want to go away forever, I’m just saying that Ponyville can’t be all that there is in my world, that I want to go and see more of it. I want to see what’s beyond Canterlot mountain, what’s past Ghastly Gorge. I want to go and meet new ponies that don’t know that I know the princess, and I want to go out and make new friends, just like you did, Twilight. I want to learn what it means to be me.

Twilight looked at Spike, he sounded so mature, and he looked to sure that this is what he truly wanted to do with his life. With every point he made she could feel her resolve weakening. She wanted to end this here and now, but there was just something she had to know.

“How long have you felt this way?” she asked hesitantly.

“I don’t know, I’ve only now realized it, but I think that I’ve felt this way for awhile, probably even since before the migration. I guess that I’m so thick headed that it took turning me into a mare for me to figure it out.” he chuckled sadly.

Twilight felt more and more terrible as she realized that he must have felt so neglected all this time, so chained up as if he were bound to her side his whole life. She remembered the time that she went through the mirror with Spike following her through. He ended up as a dog, a pet, a follower. That must be how he felt, but now, he wants to be something more, he wants to feel like he’s truly free. She quickly realized that saying no would only make it worse.

Twilight looked closely at Spike. He sounded so mature, so sure that this was what he wanted, what kind of friend would she be, to deny something that he desired so badly. She looked over to where Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, and Rarity sat. Rainbow was too busy kissing her wings to notice this life changing decision, Pinkie Pie yelled something about a ‘got-your-body-back party, and Rarity was looking at her with pleading eyes, almost imperceptibly nodding her head.

Twilight took a large breath, and release it with a larger sigh. Calmly, she looked over to her faithful assistant, her closest friend, and her youngest brother. Without knowing, she began speaking in the tone Princess Celestia would often use, a tone that one would use when making extremely important decisions. Although, a bit of hesitation could be found within her, otherwise, regal tone.

“F-fine, you can go on your journey. You have proved yourself to be somewhat responsible when…… when left alone,” she paused briefly when she realized how often he had in fact been left home alone, which only made her feel worse, “and you have learned the same lessons about friendship that I have, so hopefully, you, won’t make the same bad decisions that I made.” Before Spike could jump in joy and celebration, Twilight held out a hoof to stop him. “But-”

‘Oh sweet Celestia, not the but’ Spike quickly thought.

“There will be some conditions, I’ll make an official list later, but for now, I want you to remember these rules, because these are the most important ones.”

“I’m listening.”

“One, you are NOT allowed to go anywhere near the Badlands! Do you hear me. Two, you will keep in constant contact with me, or one of the other Princesses with your flame. Three, you will promise me that if some weirdo comes up to you and offers you a potion, you run away. Four, don’t ever-”

“-ever, ever trust a pony wearing red socks or boots. And finally, number fifty, please, whatever you do, no matter what happens, come home safe, okay?” she finished by pulling Spike into a hug. At some point during her rant, Twilight had began to cry genuine tears as the realization that her best friend was leaving her to see the world. She imagined how lonely it would be in the library without him. She would miss the food that he would make. She would even miss his sarcastic and smart alic responses. She didn't want to, but she knew that it had to be done.

Spike had just begun to doze off when she came in for the hug, Rarity had fallen asleep, the train back to Ponyville had arrived, Dash had taken off, determined to fly all the way home, and somewhere off in the distance, a party was being thrown for the confused ponies of Manehatten. Spike could feel her tears streaming down his back, and comforted her accordingly with a few pats to her back. “Twi, it’s ok, I’ll come back. I promise!”

“I know, but still…….”

They sat there for a few more minutes as Twilight let her tears flow. There wasn't much, as she quickly broke the hug and took a few steps back. “Ok, I feel better, let’s go back to Ponyville. Looking at Spike’s confused expression she elaborated further. “What? You don’t think that I’ll let you out there unprepared do you,” she said as she took Spike onto her back, and trotted over to Rarity and the recently arrived train. “You, mister, have some serious planning to do! It’ll probably take a few days to get everything, but when I’m done, you’ll be prepared for almost every possibility-” Twilight went on with that all the way into the train. Her voice echoed through it as she began to list off the things that Spike would need.

Spike ended up hanging back to talk to his crush some more.

“Well, shall I go home then?”

“Yes please, and Rarity?”

“Yes, darling?”

“Thank you, for everything.”

"Well, thank you for opening up to me. I don’t like it when ponies hide things. Especially things like being turned into a mare,” she said as she began to stride forward.

Spike only laughed nervously before running to catch up to her.

“But still, thank you, it’s because of you and Rainbow that I realized that I feel this way.”

“Well, I’m glad that you learned something from this experience. Just remember, don’t ever be afraid of your true feelings, and be honest to those around you.”

“I got it, but you know, I learned something else too.”

“And, what may that be?”

“Flying may be awesome, but I wouldn't trade the taste of gems for all of the magic or wings in the world!”

Author's Note:

I won't lie.............the cake is real.
ahm just kidding. I felt really playful and silly when I wrote this. Obviously it shows, so I can't complain.
Here's to hoping that I finish this before the deadline, I tend to drag things out when I write and procrastinate when I don't

Likes, faves, follows, and comments are fully welcome.

Comments

[Zurvan]

Very interesting story, this will go on my favorites, can't wait to see where this goes

[Mad Maudlin]

She put her sister in a box? Rarity is kind of warped/

[ferret]

Wow, two days straight? Either Sweetie is a lot more destructive or Rarity is a lot crueler than I thought.

[keaton-furman-prower]

I wonder what Rarity smoked to think of leaving Sweetie in a box for two days

Also, Derpy the weather captain

[Block]

Lots of feels at the end of this chapter.